Have you ever heard of people infusing vodka into a whole watermelon? A friend was telling me if you cut out a hole in the watermelon skin and hollow the watermelon out a little bit you can pour vodka into the hole to make a spiked watermelon. You put it in the fridge for a day and then cut it up as per usual for a twist on having a drink of vodka.

This got me thinking. As I had some watermelon left over from a previous bake and have a New Years Eve gathering in a few days I could get into some experimenting.

So I figured as watermelon is basically all liquid, if I blitz the flesh with the vodka and some sugar I could freeze the mix and make a granita.

Though the granita was lovey it wasn’t really anything unusual, therefore I decided to add in another flavour to compliment the watermelon taste as well as turn it into a silky smooth and more satisfying sorbet.

As my friend hosting is a vegan thus wont eat eggwhite (which is needed to turn the granita into sorbet) I decided to use an alternative that she could eat. There are many egg replacement options that vary in results, however I have noticed that of you want eggwhite alternatives aquafaba (the liquid in cans of chickpeas) is actually the best alternative out there. It whips up exactly like eggwhites and if you add some cream of tartar the peaks will hold. Aquafaba does have a slight taste to it but it’s so subtle that the watermelon flavour completely covers any trace 100%. Not only does this alternative yield the best results, it’s actually not an unhealthy alternative (etc like using a water/oil comb). AND most importantly I can guarantee no one will be able to tell you have used chickpea liquid.

Ingredients:

120g sugar

800g watermelon flesh

½ tsn lime zest

90ml vodka

2 tbsn aquafaba (or 1 eggwhite if you wish to opt against Vegan)

1/4 tsn cream of tartar

Method:

Run the skin off the watermelon and place 800g of the fruits flesh into a food processor.

Add the sugar and zest into a food processor and blitz until the watermelons is liquid in consistency.

Place the mix into a bowl and heat in the microwave until warm, stir to dissolve the sugar.

Allow the mix to cool and add the vodka, stir to combine.

Place the bowl into the freezer until the mix is frozen (this will take about 3 hours).

Whip the aquafaba (or egg white) along with the cream of tartar with electric beaters until peaks form.

Add the frozen watermelon mix back into the food processor with the whipped aquafaba and blitz until the mix is silky smooth and paler in colour.

Place the mix back into the bowl and into the freezer to freeze again.

Remove the mix from the freezer 5 mins prior to serving.

Spoon into cocktail glasses (or whatever bowl you want), enjoy!

Note: Aquafaba is simply just the liquid that a can of pre-soaked chickpeas come in.

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